Enrolment and Legal Residency

Policy

All learners enrolled in SelfDesign Learning Community (SDLC) and claimed for funding must be legally entitled to educational funding by the government of the province of British Columbia, through the Ministry of Education.

SDLC is eligible to apply to the Ministry of Education for funding for an individual learner if the learner, as well as the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) meet residency requirements. Learners who are ordinarily resident in BC and whose parent or legal guardian is ordinarily resident in BC and who are enrolled in our certified Class 1 SelfDesign Learning Community Distributed Learning program are eligible for Ministry funding.

Implementation

The Board of Directors is responsible for approving this policy.
The Principal of SelfDesign is responsible for implementing this policy.

Required Compliances

This policy must at all times be in accordance with:

  • Ministry of Education contractual guidelines
  • SelfDesign Learning Community Program Agreements
  • Student Records Requirements and Best Practice Guidelines for Independent Schools
  • Personal Information Protection Act.

Definitions

  • Learner:  A minor under the age of 18 enrolled in a SelfDesign Program, or an adult learner who has not yet graduated or completed their program
  • Parent/Guardian: The legal guardian of a minor enrolled in a SelfDesign Program
  • SDLC: SelfDesign Learning Community, the Independent Distributed Learning School
  • Proof of Residency:  Recent document (within the last three months) with legal guardian’s name and current British Columbia physical address.
  • Ordinarily Resident:  Refers to the place in which a person’s lifestyle is centered and to which the person regularly returns if his or her presence is not continuous. It does not require continued physical presence in a place during the currency of the period of ordinary residency.  A person does not lose his or her ordinary residence in a place by leaving for a temporary purpose. However, a person will lose his or her ordinary residence in a place if he or she travels to another place to live and work indefinitely even if he or she intends ultimately to return to the prior home.
  • Travelling family:  a learner and parent/guardian(s) who travel outside of BC for a portion of the learning year and maintain ordinarily resident status.

Procedures

All learners wishing to enrol or register in any programs that SDLC offers, funded by the Ministry of Education, must complete the SelfDesign Enrolment Application Form.

“Ordinarily resident” status is assessed by SelfDesign via enrolment process:

  1. Parent/guardian submits initial documents submitted in Enrolment form, including:
    • proof of citizenship, permanent residency or current work Visa. Acceptable documents are Permanent Resident Card, or Working Visa Document
  2. If residency status is unclear from the initial documents provided (ie have used a family member’s address), then:
    • Parent/Guardian will be required to submit an additional 3 pieces of secondary level of “proof of residency” evidence:
      • Ownership of dwelling or long-term lease or rental of dwelling
      • Residence of spouse, children and other dependent family members in the dwelling 
      • Legal documents indicating British Columbia residence 
      • Provincial driver’s licence 
      • Employment/contract within the BC community 
      • Parent or guardian filing income tax returns as a B.C. resident
      • Provincial registration of automobile 
      • Canadian bank accounts or credit cards 
      • Subscriptions for health insurance, such as MSP coverage 
    • Parent/Guardian will be required to disclose any disqualifying factors. While none of these factors alone are sufficient, the larger the number of negative indicators as set out below, the more likely it is that a person will not qualify as ordinarily resident.
      • For the school-aged child, residence of the parents and/or family home in another jurisdiction, even if the student has a B.C. guardian
      • Existence of another dwelling outside of B.C. where the person and/or their family regularly resides
      • Foreign bank accounts or credit cards
      • Parent or guardian’s employment in another jurisdiction
      • Parent or guardian filing income tax return only in another jurisdiction 
      • Identification documents from another jurisdiction 

SelfDesign assesses the “ordinarily resident” status for individual families on a case by case basis.

 

 

Change Log

  • Policy page updated August 22, 2022
  • Last reviewed/updated August 22, 2022